Advanced search
Publication Cover
Small Wars & Insurgencies Volume 32, 2021 - Issue 4-5: Special Issue on insurgency and counter-insurgency in Ireland
Submit an article Journal homepage
784
Views
0
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Research Article

From warrior regimes to illicit sovereigns: Ulster loyalist paramilitaries and the security implications for Brexit

Seán BrennanIndependent ResearcherCorrespondence[email protected]
View further author information
Pages 747-771 | Received 22 Sep 2020, Accepted 18 Feb 2021, Published online: 08 Mar 2021

Primary sources

  • Interviews conducted with three loyalist ex-combatants between 31 August – 4 September 2020.

Secondary References

  • Adamson, Ian. The Cruthin, The Ancient Kindred. Pretani Press: Bangor, 1986.
  • Anderson, Chris. The Billy Boy: The Life and Death of LVF Leader Billy Wright. Mainstream: Edinburgh, 2000.
  • Bartlett, Thomas. Ireland- A History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
  • Beckett, James C. The Making of Modern Ireland 1603–1923. London: Faber and Faber, 1971.
  • Belfast Telegraph, 2019. “‘Ulster’s in Distress’, 1,000 Loyalists are Told at Belfast Rally to Protest Boris Johnson’s Brexit Deal.” December 6.
  • Belfast Telegraph, 2019. “UVF Watching Brexit Developments ‘Very Closely’.” Warns Jamie Bryson, September 20.
  • Bew, Paul. Ireland, the Politics of Enmity 1789–2006. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
  • Black, Rebecca, 2017. “Shock Figures Show Brutal Reality of Paramilitary ‘Law’ in Northern Ireland.” December 27.
  • Boulton, David. The UVF 1966-73. Dublin: Torc Books, 1973.
  • Bowman, Timothy. Carson’s Army, The Ulster Volunteer Force, 1910–12. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2012.
  • Bowyer Bell, J. The Irish Troubles: A Generation of Violence 1967–1992. Dublin: Gill and MacMillan, 1994.
  • Brennan, Seán. “Ulster’s Uncertain Menders? The Challenge of Reintegration and Reconciliation for Ulster Loyalists in a Post-Ceasefire Society.” Unpublished thesis, Belfast: Queen’s University Belfast, 2017.
  • Bruce, Steve. The Red Hand: Protestant Paramilitaries in Northern Ireland. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
  • Bruce, Steve. The Edge of Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.
  • Bruce, Steve. “Turf War and Peace: Loyalist Paramilitaries since 1994.” Terrorism and Political Violence 16, no. 3 (2004): 501–502. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/09546550490509829.
  • Buchanan, Sandra. Transforming Conflict through Social and Economic Development: Practice and Policy Lessons from Northern Ireland and the Border Counties. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2014.
  • Carroll, Rory. 2019. “‘Betrayal? Ridiculous’: Northern Ireland Ready to Move on from Brexit.” The Guardian, October 18.
  • Cassidy, Kevin J. “Organic Intellectuals and the New Loyalism: Re‐inventing Protestant Working‐class Politics in Northern Ireland.” Irish Political Studies 23, no. 3 (2008): 411–430. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/07907180802246743.
  • Cheng, Christine. Extralegal Groups in Post-conflict Liberia: How Trade Makes the Modern State. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
  • Crawford, Colin. Inside the UDA: Volunteers and Violence. London: Pluto Press, 2003.
  • De Silva, Desmond. The Report of the Patrick Finucane Review. London: House of Commons, 2012. December.
  • Dorling, Danny, and Sally Tomlinson. Rule Britannia: Brexit and the End of Empire. London: Biteback Publishing Ltd., 2019.
  • Edwards, Aaron. A History of the Northern Ireland Labour Party: Democratic Socialism and Sectarianism. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009.
  • Edwards, Aaron. “Fearful of the past or ‘Remembering the Future and Our Cause’? A Response to Cheryl Lawther.” Irish Political Studies 27, no. 3 (2012): 457–470. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/07907184.2012.704219.
  • Elias, Norbert. The Civilizing Process. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2000.
  • Elliot, Sydney. “The Northern Ireland Forum/entry to Negotiations Election 1996.” Irish Political Studies 12, no. 1 (1997): 111–122. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/07907189708406576.
  • Garland, Roy. Gusty Spence. Belfast: The Blackstaff Press, 2001.
  • Geoghegan, Peter. 2016. “Michael Gove a ‘Fanatic’ Who Would Damage Peace Process.” Irish Times, July 5.
  • Geoghegan, Peter. 2020. “Revealed: The Dirty Secrets of the DUP’s ‘Dark Money’ Brexit Donor.” Open Democracy, August 6. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/revealed-dirty-secrets-of-dup-s-dark-money-brexit-donor/
  • Greer, James. “Typical Unionists? The Politicians and Their People, past and Present.” In The Contested Identities of Ulster Protestants, edited by Thomas Paul Burgess and Gareth Mulvenna, 39–54. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
  • Haines, Keith. Fred Crawford – Carson’s Gunrunner. Donaghadee: Ballyhay Books, 2009.
  • Hall, Gerald R. Ulster Liberalism 1778–1876. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2011.
  • Hayward, Katy. “The Pivotal Position of the Irish Border in the UK’s Withdrawal from the European Union.” Space and Polity 22 (2018). doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/13562576.2018.1505491.
  • Hayward, Katy. “Why It Is Impossible for Brexit Britain to ‘Take Back Control’ in Northern Ireland.” Territory, Politics, Governance 8, no. 2 (2020): 273–278. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2019.1687328.
  • Hewitt, Ralph. 2019. “DUP ‘Held Series of Meetings with Loyalists’ to Discuss EU Exit Specifics.” Belfast Telegraph, October 15. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/brexit/dup-held-series-of-meetings-with-loyalists-to-discuss-eu-exit-specifics-38595153.html
  • Housing Executive Northern Ireland. The Housing Executive’s Community Cohesion Strategy 2015–2020. Belfast: February, 2016.
  • Hristov, Jasmin. Paramilitarism & Neoliberalism – Violent Systems of Capital Accumulation in Colombia and Beyond. London: Pluto Press, 2014.
  • Hutchinson, B. 2020. “Brexit Ruling.” Progressive Unionist Party Press Release, August 4. http://pupni.com/articles/post/brexit-ruling
  • Jackson, Alvin. Ireland 1798–1998. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
  • Jamison, Ruth. Peter Shirlow and Adrian Grounds, Ageing and Social Exclusion among Former Politically Motivated Prisoners in Northern Ireland and the Border Region of Ireland. Belfast: Community Foundation Northern Ireland, 2010.
  • John., Alderdice, John McBurney, and McWilliams Monica. The Fresh Start Panel Report on the Disbandment of Paramilitary Groups in Northern Ireland. Belfast: Northern Ireland Executive Office, 2016.
  • Loughlin, James. The Ulster Question Since 1945. 2nd ed. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
  • Lynch, Catherine. “Evaluating the Peace-Building Impact of Structural Funds Programmes: The EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland.” Evaluation 13, no. 1 (2007): 8–31. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1356389007073679.
  • Maidment, Jack. 2019. “‘No Surrender!’ DUP Activists Cheer Boris Johnson to Rafters at Tory Conference after Vowing He Will NOT Back down in Brexit Standoff.” Daily Mail, October 2.
  • McAuley, James W. “Whither New Loyalism? Changing Loyalist Politics after the Belfast Agreement.” Irish Political Studies 20, no. 3 (2005): 323–340. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/07907180500359368.
  • McAuley, James W. Very British Rebels? The Culture and Politics of Ulster Loyalism. London: Bloomsbury, 2016.
  • McBride, Ian. Eighteenth Century Ireland, the Isle of Slaves. Dublin: Gill Books, 2009.
  • McCann, Michael. Burnt Out, How ‘The Troubles’ Began. Cork: Mercier Press, 2019.
  • McDermott, Jim. The Old IRA and the Belfast Pogroms 1920–22. Belfast: First Edition Publications, 2012.
  • McKenny, Kevin. The Laggan Army in Ireland 1640–1685. The Landed Interests, Political Ideologies and Military Campaigns of the North-West Ulster Settlers. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2005.
  • McMichael, Gary. Ulster Voice: In Search of Common Ground in Northern Ireland. Dublin: Robert Rinehart Publishers, 1999.
  • Miller, David W. Queen’s Rebels, Ulster Loyalism in Historical Perspective. Dublin: Gill and MacMillan, 1978.
  • Mitchell, Audra. Lost in Transformation, Violent Peace and Peaceful Conflict in Northern Ireland. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, 2012.
  • Mitchell, Claire. “For God and … Conflict Transformation? The Churches’ Dis/engagement with Contemporary Loyalism.” In Transforming the Peace Process in Northern Ireland, edited by Aaron Edwards and Stephen Bloomer, 148–162. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2008.
  • Mitchell, Claire. “The Limits of Legitimacy: Former Loyalist Combatants and Peace‐Building in Northern Ireland.” Irish Political Studies 23, no. 1 (2008): 1–19. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/07907180701767922.
  • Mitchell, George J. Making Peace. The inside Story of the Making of the Good Friday Agreement. London: W. Heinemann, 1999.
  • Monaghan, Rachel, and Peter Shirlow. “Forward to the Past? Loyalist Paramilitarism in Northern Ireland since 1994.” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 34, no. 8 (2011): 649–665. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2011.583205.
  • Muggah, Robert. Security and Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Dealing with Fighters in the Aftermath of War. London and New York: Routledge, 2009.
  • Mulvenna, Gareth. “Labour Aristocracies, Triumphalism and Melancholy: Misconceptions of the Protestant Working-Class and Loyalist Community.” In Contested Identities of Ulster Protestants, edited by Thomas Paul Burgess and Gareth Mulvenna, 159–176. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
  • Mulvenna, Gareth. Tartan Gangs and Paramilitaries. The Loyalist Backlash. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2016.
  • Nelson, Sarah. Ulster’s Uncertain Defenders: Loyalists and the Northern Ireland Conflict. Belfast: Appletree, 1984.
  • Newman, Edward, Roland Paris, and Oliver P. Richmond. New Perspectives in Liberal Peacebuilding. Tokyo, New York, Paris: United Nations University Press, 2009.
  • Nolan, Paul. 2020. “The Cruel Peace: Killings in Northern Ireland since the Good Friday Agreement.” The Detail, August 5. https://www.thedetail.tv/articles/the-cruel-peace-killings-in-northern-ireland-since-the-good-friday-agreement
  • Nolan, Paul, Dominic Bryan, Clare Dwyer, Katy Hayward, Katy Radford, and Peter Shirlow. The Flag Dispute: Anatomy of A Protest. Belfast: Queens University, 2014.
  • Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, 2020. “Oral Evidence: Cross-border Co-operation on Policing, Security and Criminal Justice after Brexit.” HC 766. Wednesday November 4.
  • Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO). “The Social Investment Fund.” Belfast (2018). Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General 8 November 2018.
  • Novosel, Tony. Northern Ireland’s Lost Opportunity, the Frustrated Promise of Political Loyalism. London: Pluto Press, 2013.
  • O’Neill, Terence. The Autobiography of Terence O’Neill. London: Hart-Davis, 1972.
  • PSNI (Police Service Northern Ireland). Police Recorded Security Situation Statistics. Annual Report Covering the Period 1st April 2015 – 31 March 2016. Belfast: PSNI Statistics Branch, May 2016.
  • Purdie, Bob. Politics in the Streets, the Origins of the Civil Rights Movement in Northern Ireland. Belfast: The Blackstaff Press, 1990.
  • Reed, Richard. Paramilitary Loyalism: Identity and Change. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2015.
  • Rossi, Norma. “Breaking the Nexus: Conceptualising ‘Illicit Sovereigns’.” Global Crime 15, no. 3–4 (2014): 299–319. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/17440572.2014.924856.
  • Shirlow, Peter. The End of Ulster Loyalism? Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2012.
  • Shirlow, Peter. “Rejection, Shaming, Enclosure, and Moving On: Variant Experiences and Meaning among Loyalist Former Prisoners.” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 37, no. 9 (2014): 733–746. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2014.931215.
  • Shirlow, Peter, and McEvoy Kieran. Beyond the Wire: Former Prisoners and Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland. London: Pluto Press, 2008.
  • Shirlow, Peter, and Marc McGovern. Who are the People? Unionism, Protestantism and Loyalism in Northern Ireland. London: Pluto, 1997.
  • Shirlow, Peter, and Brendan Murtagh. Belfast, Segregation, Violence and the City. London: Pluto Press, 2006.
  • Sinnerton, Henry. David Ervine, Uncharted Waters. Dingle: Brandon, 2002.
  • Smith, William. Inside Man: Loyalists of Long Kesh – The Untold Story. Newtownards: Colourpoint Books, 2014.
  • Spencer, Graham. The State of Loyalism in Northern Ireland. Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008.
  • Sutton Index. Accessed August 12, 2020. https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/sutton/tables/Organisation_Summary.html
  • Taylor, Peter. Loyalists. London: Bloomsbury, 2000.
  • Tonge, Jonathan, Máire Braniff, Thomas Hennessey, James W. McAuley, and Sophie A. Whiting. The Democratic Unionist Party: From Protest to Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
  • White, Robert W. Out of the Ashes: An Oral History of the Provisional Irish Republican Movement. Newbridge: Merrion Press, 2017.
  • White, Timothy J. “Civil Society and Peace in Northern Ireland.” Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice 19, no. 3 (2007): 445–451. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/10402650701525078.
  • Wood, Ian S. Crimes of Loyalty, A History of the UDA. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006.
  • Wright, Frank. Northern Ireland – A Comparative Analysis. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 1992.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Order Reprints Request Corporate Permissions

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

Request Academic Permissions

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.

Related research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.